


freedom

by thunderylee



Category: Big Bang (Band), Epik High
Genre: Canon Universe, Gen, Political Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-16
Updated: 2009-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-31 06:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12675846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: Tablo/G-Dragon in a recording studio with a Barbie doll.





	freedom

**Author's Note:**

> reposted from agck.

Jiyong swaggers as he walks into the studio, grinning like a true gangster when he sees the other person already there. “Hyung! It’s so nice to see you again! Thanks for having me~”

Sinking further into the leather couch, Tablo lifts his nose in greeting. “Thanks for coming. I look forward to have you feature on my new single in Tukutz’s place.”

Jiyong watches as the elder’s face falls at the thought of recording without his third. He can relate, even though it will be himself and TOP out of his own group who leave first. He’s been in the business long enough to know how it feels to have his hyungs leave for two years of active duty, though.

“I’ll do my best,” Jiyong tells him, smiling even brighter to try and compensate for Tablo’s dark mood as he reaches into his bag. “I wasn’t sure what kind of genre you wanted, so I made some samples and thought we could freestyle.”

Tablo nods, and Jiyong sets up the sound booth with the discs he’d brought. He’s more amused than insulted when Tablo wrinkles his nose at the first couple tracks – a little too pop for his taste, Jiyong muses – but the third one seems to strike a chord in the older man.

Jiyong watches as his hyung starts to flow, naturally, rapping in a mixture of Korean and English that Jiyong can only admire, even if his topic seems a little weak. Despite being the first time actively working with the Epik High frontman, even _he_ knows that Tablo can do better than that.

“Fuck it,” Tablo interrupts himself, exhaling roughly as he gestures for Jiyong to stop the backing track. “I hate being so uninspired.”

“Is it because he’s gone?” Jiyong asks bluntly. “I can imagine it would be difficult to adjust to someone new in his place.”

Now Tablo actually looks at him, meeting his eyes as the truth beats his words. “Yeah, I guess I’ve gotten used to his mixing style. No offense to you-”

“None taken.” Jiyong takes a seat on the couch and punches Tablo playfully in the shoulder. “I actually took some influence from him for this track, which is probably why you like it.”

Tablo scoffs and leans back even more, his ass hanging off the couch as he stares aimlessly at the plaque-covered wall. “I think it’s bullshit that he had to go.”

Jiyong stills, licking his lips as he forms his words. He knows that Tablo was exempt from his mandatory military service but doesn’t know why, it’s speculated that it was because of his studies overseas. Jiyong himself is looking forward to his, being given the chance to serve his country to achieve the true Korean dream.

“Maybe,” he says slowly. “Maybe you should rap about that.”

Tablo rolls his head to the side, offering a pointed look. “Bad idea.”

Inwardly, Jiyong agrees. He busies himself by looking in his bag, sorting through random things until he finds something he doesn’t remember putting in there.

“What the hell,” he mutters as he pulls it out, a bleach-blonde Barbie doll in beach attire.

Tablo bursts out laughing, so hard that he almost falls off the couch. “Where did you get that?”

“My maknae,” Jiyong answers without thinking, and it’s sad how much sense that makes.

Then Tablo starts rapping, words flowing from his mouth like lava erupting from a volcano, seeming to form on their own without any instruction from his brain. _Rich bitch, enjoy it while it lasts, ’cause midnight doesn’t wait for even you_.

It’s a little Cinderella mixed with Hollywood and all at once Jiyong understands how Tablo works, releasing his frustration in his rhymes that have nothing to do with where his passion lies. He listens as Tablo tells the story of the beautiful little girl who becomes corrupted by society and loses her true beauty somewhere between the drugs and the reconstructive surgery.

He pauses at the bridge and looks expectantly at Jiyong, who takes a half-second pause before launching into the girl’s distorted point of view, constantly striving to be perfect and meet everyone’s expectations of her. _Dressed and posed like a doll, let me be your role model_.

It doesn’t occur to Jiyong until the end of the song that they weren’t singing about a girl at all. Particularly when Tablo ends with “Midnight has long since come and gone.”

Jiyong hits the button to stop recording and offers Tablo an incredulous look. “Hyung?”

“Don’t worry,” Tablo says in a monotone voice, looking like he just woke up from a nap, “we won’t release that.”

“I like it,” Jiyong tells him, deciding for himself as he says the words. “I think it turned out really well.”

Tablo stares at him for a long time, then nods. “Okay. Let’s fix it up.”

As they spend the next hour cropping the track and rerecording, Jiyong thinks of Tukutz and how he’s obediently doing what he’s required to do. He thinks of Tablo who resents him, jaded by his past experiences and spiteful towards anything that’s popular.

He closes his eyes and prays for midnight to come.


End file.
